Wednesday, May 16, 2012

What Struck Me In John Kercher’s Excellent And Very Telling Book

Posted by Cardiol MD




1. Overview Of John’s “Meredith” Book

Look at this subtitle! John Kercher is a wordsmith paterfamilias thrust into marshaling words to convey feelings - emotions - thoughts - experiences for which there are no adequate words.

Meredith

Our daughter’s murder and the heartbreaking quest for the truth

[Kindle Edition] John Kercher (Author)

Meredith Kercher was tragically murdered in November 2007, in Perugia, Italy.

Since then, her murder and the subsequent trial have been a source of constant intrigue and media speculation all around the world, with the spotlight famously focusing on the accused, Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito.

Now, Meredith’s father John speaks out for the first time and tells the world about the beautiful daughter he and his family so tragically lost.

This book is a celebration of Meredith’s life. It is also a father’s story of losing a beloved daughter, and the first account of the torment the family have suffered and their ongoing quest for justice.

About the Author:  John Kercher has been a full time professional writer and journalist for more than thirty years, during which time he has published several thousand articles and interviews for the British and overseas newspaper and magazine markets.

He is the author of The Film Biography of Warren Beatty and has written 24 children’s annuals and edited several magazines. He holds a BSc degree in Sociology from London University and lives in Surrey.

A subtext, which Mr. Kercher addresses only briefly, is the opposing army recruited to marshal words of obfuscation, using bias, distortion, innuendo, deceit, imagined reasons-to-doubt, sheer-blind-ignorance, and outright lies to protect the obviously guilty from the foreseeable consequences of their criminal recklessness.

Key case points that Mr. Kercher does address in detail are quoted below, using his balanced, descriptive, objective, fact-based, evidence-based, non-argumentative words.

To me his book is the very model of what such a family should convey in its heartbreaking quest for the truth. 

2. Telling Comments About The Case

I have selected to highlight below the insights and observations which to me were most telling. Others may choose differently and I hope they will, in the comments and their own reviews.

I have referenced the quotes by their Kindle-Location-Numbers, but the Chapter-Sources should be the same as those of a Print-Version:

1. Learning that “It was the DNA found on and in Meredith’s body that convinced Italian police of Guede’s complicity in her killing. However, Guede’s lawyer at the time, Vittorio Lombardo, was quoted as saying: “˜We know about the DNA… But it does not mean that he is the killer.”  (Chapter 4 The Investigation: Kindle Location 1468-1469)

The author is establishing his tone of objectivity.

2. Learning at Guede’s fast-track trial under Judge Micheli’ (which included a “pre-trial”  of Knox & Sollecito), what a crucial part Meredith’s, Amanda Knox’s, Sollecito’s, and Guede’s DNA, and Footprints, played in the evidence surrounding Meredith’s murder. (Chapter 6 Suspects: Kindle Locations 1816-1834)

The author shows that his thinking is fact-based, in spite of the emotional-price.

3. Learning the evidence presented to Judge Micheli of the staged break-in of Filomena Romanelli’s room, where Meredith’s blood was found to have been cleaned-up. (Chapter 6 Suspects: Kindle Locations 1834-1846)

Evidence-based, too.

4. Being told of Judge Micheli’s receipt during Guede’s fast-track trial, of 10,000 pages of evidence, including the finding of Sollecito’s DNA on Meredith’s bra clasp. (Chapter 6 Suspects: Kindle Locations 1959-1982)

The author reminds the reader of the enormous amount of information-in-evidence available to the Court, but apparently not available outside the Court.

5. Hearing Judge Micheli’s announcement in Italian (which the family had to have painfully translated for them) ruling that Guede was “guilty of complicity in Meredith’s murder,”  and that Knox and Sollecito would stand trial on charges of Meredith’s murder and sexual violation. (Chapter 6 Suspects: Kindle Locations 2009-2015)

The author reminds the reader of the foreign-language dimension of the family’s ordeal; note the carefully-quoted phrase “guilty of complicity” .

6. Not attending the Perugia Trial of Knox & Sollecito, before a jury including Judge Massei, beginning in early 2009, because of its projected length, in the Italian language, which they would not completely understand, and would be too distressed-by if they could completely understand.  (Chapter 7 The Trial: Kindle Locations 2137-2148)

A reeinforcing reminder to the reader of the foreign-language, distant country dimensions of the familys’ plights.

7. Learning indirectly of the overwhelming evidence against Knox & Sollecito introduced at their trial, including only, but also both, Meredith’s and Knox’s DNA on the alleged murder-knife. This cumulative evidence rested “˜not only on the DNA evidence and the alleged break-in, but also on the conflicting alibis of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, which had changed on several occasions.” (Chapter 7 The Trial: Kindle Locations 2149-2647)

Note the persistent use of “alleged” , “conflicting” , and “changed” . If both Amanda’s blood, and Meredith’s blood were found on the knife, but only their blood, the Author leaves it to the imagination of the reader the shock to come when Hellmann announces his imagined-reasons-to-doubt.

8. Testifying at the trial: Asked whether Meredith would have fought-back against her attackers Stephanie said: “˜Absolutely. One hundred and ten per cent. Mez had a strong personality and, physically, she was very strong. She fought for her place here and she would have fought to the end.”  (Chapter 7 The Trial: Kindle Locations 2525-2550)

John Kercher wrote that, in response to a question he was asked about Meredith:  “˜I also mentioned that when she was seventeen years old she had trained in karate for a year, obtaining her third belt and that if attacked she would definitely have fought back”, and,

“˜They asked me about whether she and Amanda had got on well, and I told the court that Meredith had often complained about Amanda Knox’s hygiene habits. At this point I looked towards Amanda, but once more there was no eye contact between us.”

The author quotes Stephanie’s testimony literally, but paraphrases his own with neutral words such as “mentioned” , and “told” . “often”  is an understandable stretch, staircase-wit would substitute “repeatedly” , and “there was no eye contact”  is powerfully descriptive.

9. Not understanding the Verdict and Sentence when Judge Massei delivered his pronouncement “in an Italian I could not understand”, but seeing the reactions of Sollecito, Knox, and her parents’ look of disbelief. (Chapter 8 The Verdict: Kindle Locations 2801-2805)

Still descriptive, and very powerful!

10. Understanding from the interpreter sent by the British Embassy in Rome that the Massei Court had found Knox & Sollecito guilty of murdering their beloved Meredith and sentenced them to prison. (Chapter 8 The Verdict: Kindle Locations 2805-2810)

The author reminds reader how constantly the familys’ awarenesses are at second-hand.

11. Reaching times for relief (KL 1731), exhaustion (KL 2831), for closure (KL 3728), and even for satisfaction, but not for elation (KL 2815), triumph or celebration(KL 2853).

Such balance!

12. Reactions to the FOAK campaign from Seattle, the MSM one-sidedness, distortions and blind ignorance; the minor-celebrity status accorded-to Knox; internal family matters.  (Chapter 9 The Appeal: Kindle Locations 2946-3166)

Eminently-reasonable human-reactions.

13. Positive reaction-to, and understanding-of, Massei Report.  (Chapter 9 The Appeal: Kindle Locations 3167-3300)

Factual.

14. Following from England the Appeal Proceedings before Judges Hellmann, Zanetti, and a 6-person jury. (Chapters 9&10: Kindle Locations 2946-3563)

Reminder of Family’s arms-length status.

15. Reacting to Hellmann’s pronouncement that Knox & Sollecito were innocent, acquitted of Meredith’s murder, and walked free. (Chapter 10 Our Hope for Justice: Kindle Locations 3567-3573):

“I found the assertion that there had not been a simulated break-in astounding”|”

16. (Chapter 10 Our Hope for Justice: Kindle Location 3632)

Human reaction.

17. “Ever since the terrible day we learned of her death, my family and I have been convinced that more than one person had to have been present to overpower her.”  (Chapter 10 Our Hope for Justice: Kindle Location 3646)

Reminds the reader the family were convinced of this from the very beginning.

18. “For Judge Hellmann to refer to Knox and Sollecito as “two good youngsters” sounds more like a defence summing-up, I thought “two youngsters” would have been sufficient. (Chapter 10 Our Hope for Justice: Kindle Location 3656)

Judge Hellman completely forgot about the real victim here.

Posted by Cardiol MD on 05/16/12 at 04:01 PM in Concerning MeredithNews media & moviesExcellent reporting

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Comments

Cardiol wrote: “Being told of Judge Micheli’s receipt during Guede’s fast-track trial, of 10,000 pages of evidence, including the finding of Sollecito’s DNA on Meredith’s bra clasp. (Chapter 6 Suspects: Kindle Locations 1959-1982)

The author reminds the reader of the enormous amount of information-in-evidence available to the Court, but apparently not available outside the Court.  Quite critical point as to why the court’s decision should be respected.

Posted by James Higham on 05/16/12 at 11:49 PM | #

Some lovely reviews now on Amazon, although the deluded are out in force.

I was captivated by this book and was amazed at how balanced it was, I couldn’t have been so generous in his shoes.

It breaks my heart to think of all that they’ve lost.

The FOA’s have their heroine back and still they insist on crowing over him.

Posted by Melanie on 05/20/12 at 10:34 PM | #

For me, the most captivating part of the book was of course, were the stories about Meredith.

Every anecdote, every story that John shares about her does a good job of showing what a kind, beautiful, lovely person she was.

For instance, when John talks about the time when Meredith worked as a tour guide, he tells us about how her friends were asked to get down earlier from the bus because they were on discounted tickets that Meredith had got them.

Shows her sharing, friendly nature.

When he talks about her trips to Italy, it is obvious what a happy child she was, something which is obvious from her radiant smile too.

There are many such anecdotes and instances where her character and beauty shines through.

The second thing that struck a cord with me was the unbiased way in which John views the evidence even though it’s his own daughter who is the victim.

I don’t think I would have been able to be so generous, dignified and fair in his place. Something that the FOAkers have time and again failed to appreciate.

Posted by Sara on 05/21/12 at 06:18 AM | #

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